Friday, September 17, 2010

I do not, however, like shelling out for dishwasher detergent. With sales and a coupon, liquid soap to hand wash dishes is easy to find for free....but not so with the dishwasher stuff! After many sleepless hours swagbucks-ing the internet....I finally found a homemade recipe that works. The ingredients cost just under $12 total. This should make enough to last us for several months.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent:

~1Cup Borax

~1 Cup Baking Soda (or washing soda....find in the laundry detergent isle. Some ladies find the Washing soda works better....Baking soda has worked great for us!)

~1/2 Cup Kosher Salt

~1/2 Cup Citric Acid

(I use "Fresh Fruit" produce protector...which is basically citric acid. You can find it in the canning isle...or use 15 packets of unsweetened Lemon flavored Kool Aid...which has lots of citric acid! Guess that is why most detergents are lemon scented, the citric acid keeps the dishes from building up a cloudy residue)

*Put all ingredients into a container with a tight fitting lid, and shake up!

*Use about 1 TB per load

*****DON'T SKIP THIS STEP- Pour some white vinegar into the "rinse aid" compartment of your dishwasher. This will help to keep your dishes...especially plastic...from having a "cloudy" look!

Wa-Lah! Your own Detergent!

We have been using this for some time now, and love it!

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If you do a bit of research on homemade detergent, you will find lots of "controversy" as to how well it works. Apparently, much of this has to do with what type of water you have. Also, it is debated as to whether or not borax is "good" for the dishwasher, as it can build up in your plumbing. Dig a little deeper, and you will find that all commercial dishwashing detergents have a borax-like ingredient....they just also have a chemical to keep the plumbing clear. It is a good idea to every month or so use a regular detergent for just one cycle to clean out the buildup.

Thanks for sharing this! I may have to give it a try. However, my silverware came with the following instructions:

"avoid harsh detergents containing lemon as they can harm flatware surfaces." (It's Oneida; we got as a wedding gift)

If I leave out the citric acid, is the detergent still as effective?? (I'm not necessarily asking YOU specifically, but perhaps seeing if other readers may have an answer. However, Julie, if you know, then by all means.....)

Also, do you pour the white vinegar in with each load, or just periodically to refill?

Baking soda and Washing soda are two different things. Baking soda is Soda Bicarbonate, and washing so is Soda Carbonate. Where did you get this recipe from, and did the original source say baking or washing?

Hi, I just wanted to mention that if you put vinegar in the dishwasher ( I did this for a year), your stainless steel will eventually start to get little brown oxidation spots on it. I just started buying jet dry again. I can't wait to try the dishwashing soap. I am so excited to find an inexpensive solution to this!

We just got a new dishwasher last February, and the motor already went out this summer. Thankfully it was covered under the warranty, but the guy that came to fix it had this great tip. If your city/town has really hard water put 1/2 cup to 1 cup of vinegar upright on the top rack and run it with your dishes every time you wash them. Your dishes will look sparkly clear when using the vinegar every time you wash. Then once a month after starting your dishwasher listen for the "grinding" (draining) and the "shower" (filling) and after it's done filling dump 1/4 gallon jug of vinegar into the dishwasher (use this in place of those expensive dishwasher cleaners). I'm excited to try the home-made dishwasher detergent though!

My dishwasher was clogged once and had nasty water in the bottom. I ran the dishwasher with baking soda in the bottom where all the wate was and it unclogged it. Since then i have always used baking soda as the prewash with regular detergent. I will so have to try this.

THanks for the tip about using Fresh Fruit in place of citric acid. I had been ordering my citric acid online, but w/o a free shipping deal it can get expensive. I'll see if I can pick up some FF at Walmart. I had been making my own (same recipe) and found it worked great. It's the best homemade recipe out there! (Don't ever try the liquid recipe--suds came out of my dishwasher!)

I used this homemade concoction for a while. Please be careful when using Borax in the dishwasher. It can actually be quite harmful when particles are ingested over a long period of time. Please refer to this site for more information:

I'm going to try running mine on baking soda with a drop (literally one drop) of dish soap, but no citrus. I read online not to mix any citrus/acid with any alkaline as they will neutralize each other. Once my rinse aid runs out, I will try vinegar in the rinse though.

I've been using this recipe for months that a friend gave me, but we add 2 drops of Dawn to each load. We've never had any problems. I was very nervous at first, because of the horror stories I'd heard, but no suds. Dishes are clean, shiny, and sparkly. Just had to make my second batch up.

I just made this last night. My husband doesn't like me using all the homemade stuff for cleaning, so I only make it when I am a few days out from shopping. I just make a container and use it as an emergency soap.

However, I only put one packet of lemonade mix. I also forgot the salt, so I will add that in today.

Hey Julie - I have a question for you if you don't mind. I followed this recipe and put vinegar in my rinse aid chamber, but I am still getting a pretty substantial residue left on the dishes after they dry. Did you ever experience this? I'm starting to think my rinse agent chamber is broken and not dispensing the vinegar.

My dishes have NEVER been this clean, nospots or film. However, as a powder this does clump daily. so I addes some water and it solved the clumping but it did separate every few days. Still working on a liquid version....stay tuned. :)

I could be mistaken, but from what I'm reading elsewhere, the cause for the cloudiness is the lack of whatever it is that that would replace te phosphates in commercial detergent. Now that the govt ban has caused removal of phosphates from commercial dishwasher detergent, the dishes are AWFUL! The phosphates somehow "magically" kept the film from adhering to the glasses/dishes. My husband scrubbed our glasses twice with a Brillo pad and they are still yucky. After FOUR washes. (So much for eco friendly!). Anyway, apparently TSP (used as paint cleaner, found at hardware stores) can sub in the detergent - I've read from 1/2 tsp to 1 Tbsp per load. Haven't tried it--just passing along the info.

My Grandma always said to use vinegar in the dishwasher to clean it out which I have gotten in the habit of doing anyway. The dishwasher is the one that was here when we moved in and it was nasty. My Mom also said its good for washers

You can put a few of those dissecant packets that you find sometimes in shoe boxes or beef jerky bags in the jar with the detergent to keep it from clumping. They absorb the moisture, works like a charm in mine!

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